


Specters

by Katsuko



Series: Hurt/Comfort Bingo 2011 [14]
Category: Captain America (2011)
Genre: Community: hc_bingo, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, NaNoWriMo, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-10
Updated: 2012-01-10
Packaged: 2017-10-29 08:02:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/317615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katsuko/pseuds/Katsuko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He knew they were all gone, but sometimes it felt like they were still there if he looked at just the right time. Written for NaNoWriMo and <span><a href="http://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/"><b>hc_bingo</b></a></span></p>
            </blockquote>





	Specters

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**hc_bingo**](http://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/) , the prompt being "hallucinations."

Steve accepted the fact that he'd been asleep in the ice for seventy years. After all, he just needed to take a quick look around Times Square if he somehow forgot and he would have just the reminder necessary of the passage of time. He accepted that everyone he'd known were either living out their last days or had already died, including Peggy (she had been one of the first heads of SHIELD, and had been Nick Fury's mentor when he had joined the organization). He was slowly adapting to the changed world, but wasn't yet confident enough to go out into it.

In spite of all this, he couldn't help but see the ones who'd gone before him every time he turned around.

When he walked into the commissary to get lunch, Steve could hear someone talking just a little bit louder than the others. The man's voice carried a bit, joking and quick to respond to whomever he was talking to, and Steve was _sure_ if he turned around fast enough he would see Bucky standing there.

During the times he made his way to the gym, while he was taking out his frustrations on a punching bag, Steve could almost catch the faintest hint of flowers and gunpowder. Every time he smelled that combination, he found himself looking around for Peggy, hoping to catch a glimpse of her brown hair or bright eyes.

Every time he talked to Colonel Fury, Steve could almost, but not quite, pick up traces of Colonel Phillips in the man's voice. It was definitely an auditory hallucination, no doubts about that, but he couldn't help but take a moment to glance to the corners of the room, thinking that maybe his former CO would be there despite how impossible that was.

Steve knew it was crazy. Hell, seventy years ago he would have been pulled from active duty if he mentioned any of the things he thought he was hearing (or, in some cases, smelling). He didn't say anything about it to Colonel Fury, hoping that it was just temporary, that he just needed to get used to the new world around him in order for the auditory and olfactory hallucinations to go away on their own.

It was several months after he'd woken up before he started to really heal, so to say.

What only a short time ago seemed like a clear indication of Bucky's presence Steve now knew heralded Agent Clint Barton's foray into a conversation. The archer was brash, a little bit cocky, but always had a smile and a kind word for Steve whenever they met in the commissary. Clint had grown up on stories about Captain America (his grandfather had fought in the war and was actually one of the four hundred soldiers Steve had rescued on his first real mission) and was eager to hear them again from the man himself's perspective.

Whenever Steve was in the gym and caught the subtle scent of flowers, nine times out of ten that meant Agent Natasha Romanoff was there as well, sharing the space during her own workout. The woman was down to earth and had a no-nonsense manner that reminded Steve almost painfully of Peggy. Natasha would always ask him if he'd like to spar with her, and he had only accepted the invitation a handful of times. Those sessions tended to leave the Black Widow with bruises that would take days to heal while his own would be gone in hours, but both of them walked away smiling.

He still heard a bit of Colonel Phillips in Colonel Fury's speech, but it didn't hurt as much as it had the first time Steve had spoken with the man. It would probably always be that way, but he could live with that.

Slowly, the ghosts of the past vanished and were replaced with living, breathing friends in the new era Steve found himself living in. He found himself almost content.

Then he met Tony Stark and wondered who he'd pissed off in the past to be stuck with Howard's narcissistic offspring.


End file.
